PLDT unit beefs up defense vs cyber attacks

MANILA, Philippines - IPC (IP Converge Data Services Inc.), a unit of dominant carrier Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), is ready to put up another scrubbing center in the country to protect companies from malicious Internet attacks.

IPC president Rene Huergas said in an interview that the company could put up a second DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack scrubbing center at its soon-to-be-opened P600-million data center situated in a one-hectare property in Paranaque City.

He said IPC could set up another DDoS attack scrubbing center depending on the demand from its clients.

IPC – a subsidiary of ePLDT – has tied up with leading Internet security provider Nexusguard to put up the country’s first locally hosted DDoS attack scrubbing center at the company’s office at RCBC Plaza in Makati City.

Data scrubbing centers are centralized facilities created as a line of defense against DDoS attacks.

“In our years of experience in DDoS mitigation, we’ve seen an alarming growth in scale and variety of attacks. In addition, the number of targeted industries has likewise increased,” Huergas said.

He pointed out that attacks are now also directed towards various enterprises and institutions.

“It is for this reason that we partnered with Nexusguard to deliver world-class local DDoS defense for Filipino organizations at the soonest time possible,” Huergas added.

Bill Barry, executive vice president of Nexusguard, revealed that there was a 77.52 percent increase in the number of attacks launched in the second quarter this year compared to the first.

In addition, he said the longest attack was six times longer and the peak packets-per-second increased 149 percent.

“This data reflects the persistence and relentlessness of cybercriminals. They become even more aggressive and more creative over time,” he added.

Barry said the cost to put up an attack scrubbing center could reach $2 million but Nexusguard only invested $500,000 as it tied up with IPC to use its existing facility.

This is why IPC has made it an advocacy to educate enterprises about DDoS and empower them with knowledge and the right defense against what is known as the world’s most costly cybercrime.

“This scrubbing center will be connected to the Nexusguard global network of scrubbing centers, allowing attacks to be mitigated at the country of origin. Attack traffic aimed at Philippine targets is mitigated on our end and never reach the country,” Barry added.

IPC said this makes a DDoS mitigation service different from the ready-to-use DDoS appliances available in the market today.